If you thought the days of bad blood between House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and rank-and-file House lawmakers were on hold, at least for the summer, Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) apparently didn’t get the memo. Tuesday night, the congressman marked his 56th birthday by filing a resolution in the House to force Boehner from the top leadership post. The “motion to vacate the chair” is the first time that a Boehner opponent has taken such a step and is a bit of payback from Meadows, a founding member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus and one of 25 conservative rebels...

Supporters of Presidential candidate Scott Walker have gotten their way in the North Carolina General Assembly in their maneuvers to make the NC presidential primary a winner take all affair for the first time in the state’s history, something that does not go down well with many GOP activists in the state. The General Assembly had passed legislation in a previous session to set the primary for February, creating an RNC rule violation that would have led to punitive measures greatly reducing the size of the NC delegation. That set up a drive within the party to move the date...

Aldi and Lidl, Germany’s toughest discount food retailers, are invading the US. Both operate small, efficient no frill self serve supermarkets with a strong non-food assortment, and very low prices. Both have permanently changed the competitive landscape wherever they have gone. Lidl is about to open its U.S. headquarter in Arlington, Virginia and a distribution center in Alamance County, North Carolina. These are early steps in its U.S. invasion by this formidable company that operates about 11,000 stores in 26 countries throughout Europe. I am told that the company has already selected 80 locations in the Greater Washington, D.C. area...

New film, ‘Rosenwald,’ tells story of philanthropist Julius Rosenwald who transformed black lives, including those of writer Langston Hughes and opera singer Marion Anderson.PHILADELPHIA (JTA) — Alex Bethea, the son of cotton and tobacco farm workers, was in sixth grade in 1965 when his family moved from Dillon, South Carolina, to the tiny town of Fairmont, North Carolina, where he attended a school called Rosenwald. But it wasn’t until this week, 50 years later, that Bethea learned that his school was named for Julius Rosenwald, the Jewish philanthropist who is the subject of a new documentary by Aviva Kempner. The...

The rally gathered at the Alamance County Courthouse where the Common Soldier Statue has stood since 1914. "It was erected as a symbol of love, love for the fathers, the sons, the husbands, the brothers that never came home," said one man to a cry of cheers from the crowd of about 4,000 people.

RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA — Scientists using underwater vehicles and sonar have found a shipwreck off the North Carolina coast that may date back to the American Revolution, Duke University said Friday. The expedition led by Duke marine scientist Cindy Van Dover found the previously unknown wreck in mile-deep waters on July 12 using an underwater robot and a manned submarine. They've found artifacts including an iron chain, glass bottles, an unglazed pottery jug and navigational instruments including a metal compass. Archaeologists who examined photos of the artifacts say the wreck appears to date back as far as the late 18th...

Expanded NC grassroots operation represents every Congressional district, Reflects makeup of old Reagan CoalitionHOUSTON, Texas — U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, candidate for President, today announced dozens of new members to his North Carolina statewide leadership team, which now covers every Congressional district in the state and reflects his growing grassroots support across the country.“This ever-growing coalition of state grassroots activists shows how broad and competitive our North Carolina Cruz for President team will be in the Republican primary,” Sen. Cruz said. “I am humbled and honored by the support of these leaders in the Tarheel State who are standing...

A North Carolina elementary school teacher has resigned after his decision to read a gay-themed children’s book to his third-grade class led to controversy in the small town of Efland. Omar Currie said he read his students the book “King and King,” a fairy tale about two princes having a “love” encounter, after he perceived negative gay stereotyping in his class. Currie said that he was inspired to teach the little kids about two men “hooking up” because a boy in his class acted a little feminine. “When I read the story, the reaction of parents didn’t come into my mind,”Currie, 25, said...

PPP's newest North Carolina poll finds that Donald Trump's momentum just keeps on building. He's the top choice of Republican primary voters in the state, getting 16% to 12% for Jeb Bush and Scott Walker, 11% for Mike Huckabee, 9% for Ben Carson and Marco Rubio, 7% for Rand Paul, 6% for Ted Cruz, 5% for Chris Christie, 4% for Carly Fiorina, 2% for Rick Perry, 1% each for Lindsey Graham, Bobby Jindal, and Rick Santorum, and less than 1% each for John Kasich and George Pataki. Trump's favorability rating in North Carolina is 55/32, much higher than we were...

The original suspect in the murder of an America’s Next Top Model contestant and three others was scheduled to be ejected from the US in 2012 but was granted deferred deportation under President Obama’s amnesty policy, it was revealed today. Emmanuel Jesus Rangel-Hernandez, 19, was arrested last month in connection to a triple-homicide in Charlotte, North Carolina, that claimed the lives of aspiring model Mirjana Puhar, 19, her 23-year-old boyfriend Jonathan Alvarado, and 21-year-old Jusmar Isiah Gonzaga-Garcia. His alleged accomplice, 19-year-old David Ezequel Lopez, was taken into custody Thursday and jailed on three counts of first-degree murder.

Emerald Isle Police said officers responded at around 7 p.m. to reports of the collapse and multiple injuries, which ranged from cuts to possible "spinal issues," said Town Manager Frank Rush. ... Rush said the family gathered on a third of the deck for the picture during what was supposed to be their last night of a family reunion vacation, and the victims ranged from age 5 to 94. Officials said that at least two people were in critical condition as of Sunday morning. All but five of the victims had been treated and released from various hospitals by Sunday...

<p>A North Carolina mother of three young children has traveled to Iraq to join the Kurdish Peshmerga in the fight against ISIS terrorists.</p>
<p>Samantha Johnston, 25, of Emerald Isle, N.C., is the only known American woman on the ground assisting in the fight against ISIS.</p>

Pro-life regulations in Texas, North Carolina, Kansas and Iowa have been stymied in court challenges. Affected are a Texas law requiring abortion clinics to qualify as ambulatory surgical centers and for abortion doctors to have hospital admitting privileges; a North Carolina law requiring doctors to show pregnant women ultrasound images before performing an abortion; a Kansas law banning dismemberment abortions; and an Iowa Board of Medicine ban on “webcam” abortions. Texas The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday issued a stay of House Bill 2, which was slated to go into effect July 1, until the justices can consider whether to...

5. Global warming Although Frank J. Schwartz, a shark biologist with the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, says there’s too much natural variability in weather cycles to blame the recent shark attacks on global warming, Burgess says the link is plausible. “Clearly global climate change is a reality and it has resulted in warmer temperatures in certain places at certain times,” says Burgess. As warming is expected to increase, it will likely bring more sharks farther north and entice more people to get into the water, which will lead to more bites.

Some time after I bought my first gun, I got a robocall from the National Rifle Association, asking me to join. After the customary “Please stay on the line. . .” from a pleasant but earnest voice, I recoiled from the barkings of an angry-sounding man: “Did I know that Barack Hussein Obama and European leaders are meeting on American soil right now, at this very moment, to plot the confiscation of my guns?” The caller continued with his insinuations of an imminent United Nations plot against America, but before I could be handed off to a live operator, I...

POLKTON, NC (WNCN) — The North Carolina Department of Public Safety and local law enforcement officers are on the lookout for an escaped inmate from a facility in Anson County. And, on Sunday, they say a woman who worked at the prison had sex with the escapee — and helped him escape. The NC Dept. of Public Safety says the inmate, Kristopher McNeil, was discovered missing just after midnight Saturday morning. Investigators believe he scaled the fence of the Brown Creek Minimum Unit in Polkton, about 45 miles east of Charlotte. McNeil, age 34, was serving a 14-year sentence for...

To keep conservative rebels in check, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and his allies have been doling out punishments at an aggressive clip in the 114th Congress. From kicking unruly members off the Rules Committee and GOP whip team to stripping a lawmaker of his subcommittee gavel, leadership has been growing more comfortable with taking retaliatory measures to try to enforce party discipline. But several Tea Party targets haven’t gone quietly. They’ve been fighting back with help from Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan’s conservative House Freedom Caucus, which successfully pressured leaders this week to return a subcommittee gavel to one of their...

Kay Hagan, defeated senator from North Carolina, may be gearing up to make a run at Senior Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) in 2016. She narrowly defeated Senator Elizabeth Dole (R-NC), and in turn was herself narrowly defeated by Thom Tillis (R) in 2014 in what wiki called “one of the toughest re-election bids in the country.” (2) The Hagan-Ruthven family combine of real estate development and solar energy projects in central Florida and NC, just keeps finding ways to feed at the public trough! After serving in the NC state senate, Hagan launched herself into the national political arena where...

House Republicans look like they are about to cave. Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) is on the brink of restoring North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows’ subcommittee chairmanship just days after it was taken away as punishment for crossing party leaders, according to multiple sources familiar with the decision. It would be a stunning reversal for Chaffetz — and, by extension, the GOP leadership — and could embolden the several dozen conservative Republicans who defy Speaker John Boehner, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.). Those close to — and part of — House Republican leadership say...

Facing enormous blowback, Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) on Thursday reversed course and said he was reinstating Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) as a subcommittee chairman. Chaffetz stripped Meadows of his subcommittee gavel last week after the congressman joined nearly three dozen other conservatives in voting against leadership on a procedural motion that nearly scuttled a major trade package.

An 8-year-old boy suffered minor injuries Wednesday afternoon from what appeared to be a small shark bite, according to the Surf City Police Department. Officials said the incident happened around 12:25 p.m., near 700 South Shore Drive. Police say the wounds were superficial and the child is expected to be okay. Surf City Police and Pender East EMS responded and provided treatment on scene. According to the police chief, the victim had what looked like a bite mark on the top of the foot and a puncture wound on the heel. The bite was about 7 inches in diameter. A...

Former North Carolina Sen. Kay Hagan won’t run for Senate in 2016, disappointing Democrats counting on her to unseat Republican Richard Burr in what will be a major swing state race. Hagan was unseated by Republican Thom Tillis in 2014 after one term in the Senate, and has struggled in the polls since, but was the obvious pick to challenge Burr. She’s been calling donors and supporters to inform them she won’t run, reported Roll Call. Hagan performed relatively well in an election where Republicans secured big majorities in the House and Senate, and supporters figured she could unseat Burr...

A public school district in North Carolina is allowing the use of a controversial fairy tale about gay marriage to be read in its elementary schools despite widespread community opposition. Omar Currie, a former 3rd grade teacher at Efland-Cheeks Elementary School, read King & King—a book about two gay “princes” who fall in love and get married—to his third grade students in April after he said one student teased another by calling him “gay” in gym class. Currie resigned this week after the parents of three students filed written complaints to the school media review committee. Meg Goodhand, the assistant...

I realize weâ€™ve been hitting the South Carolina shooting and the disgusting, racist criminal who allegedly perpetrated the murders rather often since yesterday morning. Unfortunately, nothing as serious and tragic as this can unfold in America today without immediately becoming mired in multiple levels of political muck, generally before the first facts are even verified. In this case, the process continued well into the evening and will surely roll forward in the weeks to come. One aspect of the church shooting, however, seemed to offer at least a slim ray of hope in an otherwise dismal day. A consortium of...

WILKESBORO, N.C. — Each month, Wilkesboro’s Irene Triplett collects $73.13 from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs as a pension payment for her father’s military service — in the Civil War. Triplett, 84, is the last living person collecting a pension payment for service in the Civil War. Pvt. Mose Triplett was born in 1846 and lived to the age of 92. After his first wife’s death, he married Elida Hall, nearly 50 years his junior, in 1924. In 1930, Irene Triplett was born when her father was 84 and her mother was 34.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican presidential candidate, is set to announce his North Carolina-based leadership group, including several activists who previously worked with Lt. Gov. Dan Forest and a civil rights leader who was involved in the Greensboro sit-ins. The campaign said it had recruited evangelical and Tea Party leaders. The Cruz campaign tells Dome that Cruz was looking for leaders to add to Â“grassroots momentumÂ” and to help him raise money and compete for the nomination. A formal announcement is expected Tuesday to include: â–Ş USMC Lieutenant Colonel William Â“BillÂ” and Velvet Cowan (Ret.) of Mt. Airy. Cowan...

WASHINGTON — (...) The U.S. Supreme Court will soon decide whether the subsidies can continue for 6.4 million people in 34 states who use the federal insurance marketplace at HealthCare.gov. (...) More than 4.1 million people, or nearly two out of three who could lose their subsidies in the case this year, live in just 13 Southern states – Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. Read more here: http://www.macon.com/2015/06/16/3799971/loss-of-health-care-subsidies.html#storylink=cpy

A measure allowing some court officials to refuse to perform gay marriage responsibilities because of their religious beliefs became law in North Carolina on Thursday, with the state House voting to override the governor's veto of the bill. The Senate had voted to do the same with Republican Gov. Pat McCrory's veto a week ago. Thursday's House vote of 69-41 was just over the three-fifths majority needed. Ten House members were absent and didn't vote. The law, taking effect immediately, means some register of deeds workers who assemble licenses and magistrates to solemnize civil marriages can decide to stop performing...

While seven GOP presidential contenders were in Boone, Iowa for Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) Roast and Ride over the weekend, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) was in North Carolina organizing his campaign in the state and meeting with party leaders. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) wasn’t in Iowa either, as he had events in New Hampshire. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush also skipped the Roast and Ride. According to the Raleigh News and Observer, Cruz needled Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) from afar, saying they “don’t fit naturally into any bracket.” “Either or both could choose to...

How did life on Earth begin? It's been one of modern biology's greatest mysteries: How did the chemical soup that existed on the early Earth lead to the complex molecules needed to create living, breathing organisms? Now, researchers say they've found the missing link. Between 4.6 billion and 4.0 billion years ago, there was probably no life on Earth. The planet's surface was at first molten and even as it cooled, it was getting pulverized by asteroids and comets. All that existed were simple chemicals. But about 3.8 billion years ago, the bombardment stopped, and life arose. Most scientists think...

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- Gov. Pat McCrory says he has signed legislation that makes North Carolina one of several states with 72-hour waiting periods for an abortion. McCrory's office sent an email Friday evening which announced that he had signed pardons for two brothers wrongfully imprisoned for three decades in the killing of an 11-year-old girl. At the bottom of the email, it was noted that McCrory had also signed nine bills, listing each bill by their number without referring to their specific title.

RALEIGH — Hasan Harnett upset Craig Collins, the choice of Sens. Burr and Tillis and Gov. McCrory, in a surprise victory tonight at the N.C. Republican convention. Harnett, a self-described constitutional conservative from Cabarrus County, ran on a generic platform of raising money for candidates, bettering relationships with elected Republicans, and other efforts to build the Republican brand. But behind the generic party language was a fierce debate that pitted Tea Party and grassroots types against well-known Republican rainmakers. Outgoing chairman Claude Pope, who endorsed Collins, tried to remain upbeat about the outcome. “It was a close race, but I...

William Penn once said, "A true friend freely, advises justly, assists readily, adventures boldly, takes all patiently, defends courageously, and continues a friend unchangeably." People of faith that have sincere religious objections to same-sex marriage have every reason to question whether they have a friend in the Governor's office, and, perhaps in certain lawmakers. Recently, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory vetoed SB 2 – Magistrates Recusal for Civil Ceremonies. The bill simply establishes procedures that magistrates may recuse themselves from performing all lawful marriages, based upon a sincerely held religious objection. The same accommodation would be made for assistant register...

The New York Times has revealed what some of us already knew: billionaire convicted felon George Soros is bankrolling attacks on election integrity laws in advance of the 2016 election. He is funding efforts to attack laws designed to aid election integrity in Wisconsin, North Carolina, Ohio and perhaps elsewhere, according to the New York Times. Mr. Soros is prepared to spend $5 million or more on the effort, Mr. Vachon said. Two suits that he is supporting were filed in Ohio and in Wisconsin last month, and he is also funding a case Mr. Elias is involved with in...

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who is in Raleigh this weekend organizing his campaign in the state, sees some parallels between the crowded GOP presidential primary and the NCAA basketball tournament. With the GOP primary becoming increasingly crowded, Cruz said it is useful to break down the field into brackets. Candidates must win their brackets in order to advance. “I think of the Republican primary very much like an NCAA tournament bracket,” Cruz said in an interview at the Raleigh Convention Center on Friday. The typical Republican primary, Cruz said, is composed of 35 percent of self-identified moderates, 15 percent libertarians,...

<p>RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina's governor says he'll sign a bill that would make the state one of several with a 72-hour waiting period for abortions.</p>
<p>The state House gave final approval to the bill Wednesday, sending it to Republican Gov. Pat McCrory's desk.</p>

North Carolina may not be “First in the South,” but the so-called “valley of humility betwixt two mountains of conceit” has become an increasingly competitive state in general elections (to the extent there’s really a “contest” between Democrats and “Republicans” anymore). Of more immediate relevance to GOP presidential campaigns is North Carolina’s role as one of twelve states holding primaries or caucuses on March 1, 2016 – a.k.a. “Super Tuesday.” Looking to boost his Tar Heel State support is U.S. Senator Ted Cruz – who will spend part of the coming weekend in Raleigh, N.C. as the state’s “Republican” party...

<p>A pioneering lesbian activist who called heterosexuality Â“the ideology of male supremacyÂ” and condemned marriage as Â“slaveryÂ” for women is now working as a math teacher in North Carolina.</p>
<p>As a graduate student in 1969, Margaret Small helped begin what became the WomenÂ’s Studies program at the State University of New YorkÂ’s Buffalo campus and in 1972 co-taught a course called Â“Lesbianism 101â€ł recognized as the first such class taught in the United States. Since 2009, Small has been employed as a K-12 Mathematics Curriculum Specialist for Buncombe County Schools in Asheville, N.C., according to her LinkedIn profile. However, in the 1970s, she was a member of a radical lesbian collective known as The Furies, co-founded by legendary feminist Charlotte Bunch. SmallÂ’s 1975 essay Â“Lesbians and the Class Position of WomenÂ” offered a Marxist interpretation of Â“lesbian consciousnessÂ” as part of a Â“revolutionary struggleÂ” to end womenÂ’s Â“oppressionÂ” in the Â“relationship of slavery,Â” as she called marriage.</p>

Saudi Arabia’s unwillingness to follow its longstanding policy of propping up oil prices means North Carolina might have to wait for offshore energy exploration. That’s the assessment of Daniel Fine, associate director of the New Mexico Center for Energy Policy and project leader of a group developing New Mexico’s state energy policy. Fine described a Saudi-led oil “price war” during a presentation to the John Locke Foundation’s Shaftesbury Society. In the video clip below, Fine explained how falling oil prices tied to Saudi Arabia’s new policy affect North Carolina’s energy options.

It took just a few days after the stunning defeat of Obama's attempt to fast-track the Trans Pacific Partnership bill in the Senate at the hands of his own Democratic party, before everything returned back to normal and the TPP fast-track was promptly passed. Why? The simple answer: money. Or rather, even more money. Because while the actual contents of the TPP may be highly confidential, and their public dissemination may lead to prison time for the "perpetrator" of such illegal transparency .... fast-tracking the TPP, meaning its passage through Congress without having its contents available for debate or amendments,...

On and off the campaign trail in the Carolinas, voters say they have ‘no hard feelings’ toward Hillary Clinton. They say the opposite about Republicans.Bryan Burns could not make up his mind. Here was this African-American voter in khaki shorts, a v-neck T-shirt and black-rimmed eyeglasses, browsing shops at the Crabtree Valley Mall, on a swelteringly hot Friday in the not-yet summer of the American south. And there was Hillary Clinton, who needs to win the minds of exactly this kind of voter, a 30-year-old Virginia native who has spent the last decade living in North Carolina, a state that...

Republicans in the state Senate have added provisions to an abortion bill that are drawing strong criticism from a key Democrat in the Senate. The bill has already passed the House and would extend the waiting period for abortions from 24 hours to 72 hours. The purpose is to give women more time to consider the decision in the hope it will lead to fewer abortions. The proposal, House Bill 465, passed the House in a 74-45 vote last month. Now, in the Senate, a substitute bill is set for discussion on Wednesday. That substitute abortion bill now includes language...

The words of the former New York Governor and Democrat icon Mario Cuomo rang out loud and clear some 30 years ago. "I am personally opposed to abortion but" would pretty much sum up Cuomo's message. Yesterday that message was echoed on the issue of gay marriage by the Republican governor of North Carolina in a statement entitled "Governor McCrory defends Constitution". Governor Pat McCrory noted his own 'sincerely held religious beliefs that marriage is between a man and a woman'. But then we got this: "Whether it is the president, governor, mayor, a law enforcement officer, or magistrate, no...

As the debate over First Amendment Freedom of Religion laws raged back in May with Republican Governors backing down under business pressure in Indiana and Arkansas, the Republican governor of North Carolina, Pat McCrory, said his state didn't need such a law. The legislature has been acting, though, the House passing a bill to allow government officials to object to gay marriage, the bill now in the Senate as Senate Bill 2. But today Governor McCrory says he will veto the bill. A news release describing it is headlined "Governor McCrory defends Constitution". McCrory speaks of 'sincerely held religious beliefs...

The N.C. House passes a bill allowing magistrates to recuse themselves from performing same-sex marriages if they have a religious objection. Despite accusations of hostility toward homosexuals and discrimination on the level of Jim Crow, the North Carolina House of Representatives approved a bill that allows magistrates to recuse themselves from performing marriages due to sincerely held religious objections to same-sex marriage. After more than two hours of passionate debate, the House passed Senate Bill 2 in a 65 to 45 vote Wednesday. The bill was sponsored by Sen. Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) after the N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts...

Before we get into the meat of this story from the National Journal, let me just note that this – “One of the most underappreciated stories in recent years is the deterioration of the Democratic bench under President Obama’s tenure in office” – has always been properly appreciated by me. I noticed this issue a while back. Sorry, but I felt the need to establish that. Moving on… …less attention has been paid to how the shrinking number of Democratic officeholders in the House and in statewide offices is affecting the party’s Senate races. It’s awfully unusual to see how...

GREENVILLE, S.C. — A federal judge in South Carolina has partially upheld the practice of Christian prayers during high school graduation ceremonies. As previously reported, an anonymous couple contacted the American Humanist Association (AHA) in 2013 to complain that Mountain View Elementary School had held its graduation ceremony at the chapel on the campus of North Greenville University, a Christian institution in Traveler’s Rest. They also cited that prayers had been presented at the event. The prayers, according to reports, had been written by the children and were reviewed by school officials before being presented. In response to the complaint,...

A man who drove his wife to A Woman’s Choice abortion clinic in Raleigh, North Carolina has attacked a group, which refers to themselves as abolitionists against abortion, after he perceived they were accusing his wife of having an abortion. Abolitionists claim they hold to the tenants outlined by Abolish Human Abortion (AHA), and do not want to be linked in any way to the pro-life movement because they favor incremental strategies to end abortion. In the first video of the man, who drove his wife to the abortion clinic, he initially speaks with the abolitionists calmly, explaining that he...